[Korean version: 성가신 동반자, 근육통]

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Annoying Companion, Muscle Ache

Pain is never pleasant. Sadly, muscular pain is inevitable for those who exercise. Finding the right trainer to learn the right techniques depends on one’s ability. Yet, you can’t just avoid muscle ache just because it’s painful. Let’s look at this annoying lifelong companion muscle ache for sustainable training.

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Muscle ache is a very natural phenomenon that people experience when they use muscles that they normally don’t use. Mostly, it happens when a rupture occurs in muscular fibers due to the increase in intensity or duration of an exercise. There is a deviation depending on an individual, but it usually occurs after 12 hours of the exercise. It’s often called DOMS, Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness, due to such characteristic. The pain is known to be most severe in between 24 and 48 hours and disappears after 3 or 4 days.

A Movement that Brings Muscular Pain

Unlike what many people think, the cause of muscular pain is from concentric contraction rather than eccentric contraction. Simply, it happens when muscles ‘stretch’, not when they contract. Trainers call stretching of the muscles negative reps. Given that muscle ache occurs during negative reps, we can guess what type of exercise may bring the bigger pain.

– Lowering a barbell or a dumbbell than lifting one
– Walking downhill than uphill
– Running than riding a bike

Moreover, too rough of an exercise may bring muscle ache if the muscles are not adapted to the number of muscle contractions. For some people, doing 100 times of squat (100 times of negative reps) may give severe pain that they may not be able to walk, however, if they exercise regularly and increase the amount of squat little by little, the body will adjust to the muscle contractions, and the muscular pain will be reduced. Increasing the frequency or weight of any exercise slowly is effective in dealing with muscle ache and improving strength.

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What If Muscle Ache is too Severe

If you feel severe muscular pain and can’t move properly, that means you exercised excessively compared to your body condition. Maybe you did too many reps or lifted too heavy of weights. It would be fine if the muscle ache is temporary, however, if it lasts for a while, there is a high chance you had a messy posture. This can lead you to an injury. Let’s not be greedy.

Muscle Ache is not a Trophy

It’s hard to believe, but for some people, such as an exercise addict, muscular pain itself is the main focus of the exercise. It’s like a trophy they gain after the war with the exercise. Some people feel guilty about not exercising hard enough when they don’t feel any pain the next day. Let’s clarify this: muscle ache is just pain caused by muscle inflammation.

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Only Difference in between Physical Labor and Exercise

Many people think frequent exercise is healthy for them, but it’s a misconception. Exercising too often results in lack of time for the muscles to adapt to the movement, which causes muscle ache. Intermittent muscle ache is very normal, but chronic pain is never good for health.

We must rest after the exercise in order to recover from the injured muscles and to be freed from painful muscle ache. The only difference between physical labor and exercise is whether you take sufficient rest or not.6 Take a high-quality rest after proper exercise rather than exercising too intensely if you’d like to truly enjoy it. Then, you can go back to the gym.


References

1. Mark Rippetoe. (2016). Why Being Sore Doesn’t Mean You’re Getting Stronger. Retrieved from https://startingstrength.com/article/why-being-sore-doesnt-mean-youre-getting-stronger
2. Wikipedia. (2018). Negative repetition. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_repetition
   Proske, U., & Morgan, D. (2001). Muscle damage from eccentric exercise: mechanism, mechanical signs, adaptation and clinical applications. The Journal Of Physiology, 537(2), 333-345.
3. Trevor Connor. (2018). Training Center: Why muscle soreness is a good thing. Retrieved from https://www.velonews.com/2018/06/training/training-center-muscle-soreness-good-thing_470555
4. Rippetoe, M., & Kelly, J. (2011). Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training (3rd ed.). Wichita Falls: The Aasgaard Company.
5. 최영민. (2013). 불량헬스. 롤링다이스.